1. Prof. Angelo Riccaboni SDSN MED
EDU4SD 3rd International SDSN Mediterranean Conference Athens, Greece September, 8th 2017
Prof. Angelo Riccaboni
SDSN MED

2. The importance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
“Education for Sustainable Development [ESD] seeks to enable citizens around the globe to deal with the complexities, controversies and inequities rising out of issues relevant to environment, natural heritage, culture, society and economy. Simply put, ESD is education for the future, for everyone everywhere. It is an essential ingredient to ensure quality education and a successful transition to green societies and economies”
(UNESCO, p. 12, 2012).

3. MOOCs by SDGAcademy 1

4. 2 Contribution by SDSN Australia, NZ & Pacific
Guide for SDGS in Universities 2

5. 3 4 Contribution by USiena
Multidisciplinary Innovation Center
Teaching & Learning Center on Sustainable Development 3
A position paper on the role of Higher Education for the SD available on the SDSN MED web site
The paper aims at framing actors, methods, tools and innovative solutions of teaching activities for SD
A survey for gathering data on practices adopted by Universities in the SD issues was launched and first results are available at the SDSN MED web site - Analysis of 515 courses plus 139 MOOCS 4

6. A repository on MOOCs and other initiatives on Education for Sustainable development is available at the SDSN MED web site 5
Forthcoming MOOC on “Sustainable food systems: a Mediterranean perspective”, produced by SDSN Mediterranean in collaboration with SDG Academy and BCFN 6
Session on «Higher Education for SD», in the framework of the International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD)
In ICSD 2018 a session on “Human Rights Education for Sustainable and Inclusive Societies” will be proposed 7

7. Trends in HE sustainability education
ESD planned activities
80% of institutions declare that they will expand their ESD (PhD programmes, complementary courses, summer schools, professional courses)
Main subjects
The analysis of the 515 courses plus 139 MOOCS show that the offer is diversified but concentrated on energy and renewable energies (70%), architecture and design (8%), and business management (8%). Other topics seem to be lagging behind (agriculture, food and consumption, cultural heritage and landscape, and especially transport).
Teaching methodologies
Most of the teaching is still face-to face (scarce field work) (in accordance with survey data).
The majority of institutions (60%) offer single courses while transdisciplinary course are less developed or absent (40%).
Participatory methods (such as citizen science) are rare (only 4 institutions are employing such methodologies).
The vast majority of sample MOOCs provide an introductory-level without prerequisites.
Some MOOCs present interactive case studies.
Learner interaction in MOOCs is usually significant (e.g., blog, social networks, etc.).

8. Trends in HE sustainability education
Teaching management
The types of course offered are mainly: Bachelor, Master of Science, PhD programmes.
SD courses are developed by the ‘personal’ engagement of the Academic staff not by the whole institution.
Most of the teachers are internal staff; professionals and non-academics are involved more in UK institutions.
The main target is students not professionals.
Geographical distribution of the educational offer
The geographical distribution of the 515 courses analysed is highly concentrated in certain countries and also in some cities whose universities develop many activities.
Most of the sustainability-related MOOCs are sponsored by a few Universities, localized in particular in Europe and in North America.
Criticalities
Integrating Sustainability courses within existing curricula is the first difficulty in setting up SD courses offering (65%) (survey data).
Lack of adequate knowledge of the teaching staff (25%) (survey data).
Lack of attention from the institution.

9. The forthcoming MOOC on “Sustainable food systems: a Mediterranean perspective”, produced by SDSN Mediterranean in collaboration with SDG Academy and BCFN”

10. The forthcoming MOOC on “Sustainable food systems: a Mediterranean perspective”, produced by SDSN Mediterranean in collaboration with SDG Academy and Barilla Center Food Nutriton
Course’s structure: a series of pre-recorded lectures, readings, quizzes, discussion forums, and other activities.
Aim of the course: to provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities of the agricultural sector in the Mediterranean basin, by:
outlining the history of agriculture and its main current characteristics in these countries;
providing a summary of global challenges and issues towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG);
sharing the main statistics and data source about Mediterranean agriculture in the 21st century;
exploring the EU policy frameworks addressed to this area.

11. Contacts:
Alessandra Viviani
University of Siena